Acts 3:24-26

Yea, and all the prophets That succeeded Moses, particularly from Samuel, have likewise foretold these days The days of the Messiah, which, by the singular favour of God to you, ye are now so happy as to see. Ye are the children of the prophets You are the descendants of that people, among whom the prophets were raised up, and to whom the prophets were sent. Those of the latter ages of the Jewish Church, when prophecy had ceased, yet might be fitly, in general, called the children of the prophets, because they heard, though they did not know, the voices of the prophets, which were read in their synagogues every sabbath day; chap. Acts 13:27. Now this ought to have quickened them to embrace Christ, their own prophets having foretold that this grace should be brought unto them in his days, (1 Peter 1:10,) and therefore ought not to be neglected by them. And of the covenant which God made with our fathers As children in the family. God's covenant was made with Abraham and his seed; and they were that seed, and on them, therefore, the blessings of the covenant were entailed. As if the apostle had said, The promise of the Messiah was made to you, and therefore, if you forsake not your own mercies, and do not, by obstinate infidelity, lay an insuperable obstruction in your own way, you may confidently hope to be put in possession of them: saying to Abraham, In thy seed, &c. This promise, though referring principally to Christ, (Galatians 3:16,) yet respects the church also, which is his body, even all believers, that are the spiritual seed of Abraham. Unto you first You Jews, though not to you only; God having raised up his Son Jesus From the loins of that pious patriarch, or having appointed and authorized him to be a Prince and a Saviour; and in confirmation thereof, having raised him from the dead; sent him to bless you With the greatest of all blessings; in turning every one of you from his iniquities In saving you from the guilt and power of your sins, and from the misery consequent thereon. To explain this more fully: 1st, God raised up his Son Jesus, when he constituted him a prophet, owned him by a voice from heaven, filled him with his Spirit without measure, and then sent him to bear witness to the truth, and to seek and save lost souls. He raised him up more especially when he brought him back from the dead by a glorious resurrection, which was the first step toward his exaltation, and, as it were, the renewing of his commission. And though, having thus raised him up, he seemed presently to take him from his people, yet he did really send him afresh to them, in his gospel and Spirit. 2d, The apostle says, God sent him to the Jews first, because the personal ministry of Christ, as that of the prophets, was confined to them; and after his resurrection, though he was to be preached, indeed, by his apostles to all nations, yet they were to begin at Jerusalem, Luke 24:47; and when they went to other nations, they always first preached to the Jews they found there. The Jews, therefore, were so far from being excluded for having crucified Christ, that when he was risen he was first sent to them, and they were primarily intended to have benefit by his death. Indeed, had not the gospel been everywhere first offered to them, their prejudices would have been so heightened and confirmed, that, in all probability, many, who were converted in this method, would have been exasperated and lost. It must be observed, however, that when the apostle says to these Jews, God sent his Son to bless you, he speaks conditionally, as the event showed with respect to many of them, on whom the divine wrath and curse came, and not the blessing here spoken of; namely, because they rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Many commentators, therefore, give this sentence a different turn, rendering the last clause, upon your turning every one of you, &c., or, every one of you turning, &c. That is, “all those of you who turn from sin shall be entitled to his blessing.” And this is agreeable to the Syriac rendering, if you are converted, and repent of your sins. But the former seems the preferable reading, as the great gospel blessing is, to be turned from our iniquities, or to be converted from sin to righteousness. Nor can it be any reasonable objection to say, that Christ did not in fact turn every one of the Jews from their iniquities, since it must be allowed that he did every thing that was necessary in order thereto; yea, every thing except depriving them of their liberty of choice and action, and turning them into mere machines. He procured for them, and offered to them, and that sincerely and repeatedly, yea, continually during his own personal ministry, and afterward by his divinely-commissioned apostles, grace sufficient to enable them to turn from their iniquities; and by the help of that, they might every one of them have turned, and so have obtained the blessing here intended. But let us not suppose that this, or any other part of Peter's discourse, was intended only for the Jews. It concerns us also, whom Christ was likewise sent to bless, and that in the same manner, even by turning us from our iniquities, by saving us from our sins. Matthew 1:22. Sin is that which we naturally cleave to, and the design of divine grace is, to turn us from it; nay, to turn us against it, that we may not only forsake it, but hate it, and strive against it. And the gospel has a direct tendency to produce this effect, not only as it requires us to turn, but as it promises us grace to enable us to do so. Therefore let us apply to Christ for this, and by the aid and right use of it, repent and be converted, and so do our part; because he is ready to do his, namely, to give the grace we need, and thereby to save us from our sins, and the consequences thereof, and to bless us effectually, abundantly, and for ever.